A Three-of-a-Kind Summer; Bolts Beat Aces 9-5 for Third Time in 2026
SILVER SPRING, JULY 14—As Kenny Rogers once sang, “You never count your money,
When you're sittin' at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin,’ When the dealin’s done.”
After four entertaining matchups in 2026, the dealing has officially ended between the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (11-22) and the Alexandria Aces (14-18). Before a Blair Stadium crowd of 157, the TBolts took down Alexandria in a resumed matchup at last night.
On a 100 degree July 5 evening, the Thunderbolts and Aces were scheduled to have a seven-inning outing due to heat concerns. After two innings, the TBolts jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. Sam Camacho Jr. (Clarion) and Cam Baker (Indian River State) both had RBI knocks, and Matthew Kim (Hampden-Sydney) authored a sac fly. After lightning repeatedly struck in the second inning, the game was suspended.
Last night, action resumed between these two teams in the top of the third. Pitcher Noah Tofan (Sul Ross State) began this game with two scoreless innings on July 5, and was tasked to continue his work last night for the TBolts. The righty was immediately met with a two-run homer by Jack Rubin (Fordham) over the left-field fence. All of a sudden, it was 3-2 TBolts.
For Alexandria, Ryan Garcia (West Texas A&M) made his sixth pitching appearance of 2026. In the fourth inning, Garcia got two quick flyouts. After that, it all came crashing down. Catcher Wade Hartrick (Chicago) got the storm brewing with a single up the middle. Connor Frickey (Babson) and Joey King (St. Olaf) were sequentially plunked, which gave way for a Gabe Pegues (Lynchburg) bases-loaded walk.
Still with two outs, Alexandria forced a perfect play to put it away, but it instead yielded two more runs. Colin Gibbs (Delaware) grounded a ball to first, but—in Bill Buckner fashion—the ball skipped under the legs of first baseman Hunter White (West Liberty). Camacho Jr. added another run with a fielder’s choice, and the TBolts took a commanding 7-2 lead.
Switching hands, southpaw Zach Bortner (Frederick CC) came in to relieve Noah Tofan. After a leadoff error by the defense, Silver Spring-Takoma delivered one of the best defensive plays of the year. Rubin hit a sharp grounder to third, which was snagged by a diving Camacho Jr. The Miami native heaved it to Kim at second, who fired to Frickey at first for the 5-6-3 double play.
In the top of the fifth, Daniel McGinnis (Eastern Mennonite), Jack Warner (Penn) and Jackson Sgro (Haverford) all secured RBI singles to squander the lead to 7-5. In the bottom half, the TBolts called the Aces’ bluff with RBIs by Camacho Jr. and Baker; Camacho scorched a single to center, and Baker banged a double off the left field wall.
Because of the 100 degree day from July 5, this game only lasted seven innings. Holding a 9-5 lead, Matthew Calabrese (Rider) came in to close out the contest in the seventh. The sidearm lefty forced a flyout, groundout, and struck out McGinnis swinging to book a win for the Bolts at Blair.
Unlike their 15-8 loss against Gaithersburg, the Thunderbolts shielded their five-run lead with consistent scoring and poised pitching. Silver Spring-Takoma treated this game as a marathon—a seven-inning one at that—rather than a sprint by scoring runs almost every other inning.
Noah Tofan pitched his third win of the season, and is now tied for the second most in the Ripken League. Sam Camacho Jr. and Cam Baker each served two hits, and they drove in five of the nine Thunderbolt runs. In addition, Camacho instigated the highlight double play back in the fifth.
“Defense has always been my thing, and then I came through with the hitting today. I was just sticking to my plan, and it got a dub for us today,” Camacho told Peter Kelly after last night’s victory.
Since the dealing—at least for the regular season—is done, let’s count up the money. In four games against the Aces this season, the Thunderbolts won three of them. Silver Spring-Takoma collected 50 runs, 40 hits, 28 walks, and folded 21 Aces with strikeouts over these four games.
After this valiant victory, the Thunderbolts have won four of their last five games. Silver Spring-Takoma is back in action tonight at First Responder Field to take on the Olney Cropdusters at 6 P.M.